The invention relates to cylindrical well screens and particularly to the attachment of fittings thereto such as pipes, tubes and end plates. Typically, as disclosed in E. E. Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 2,046,461, well screens are made by helically wrapping a shaped wire around a plurality of longitudinal rods which are circumferentially spaced from each other. The wire wrap is welded to each of the rods which it crosses and the winding pitch is controlled so that a continuous slot of a constant width is formed by the wrapped wire. Since the well screens are typically formed in long lengths which are then cut to size, it is necessary to attach fittings to them to permit them to be joined to an adjacent pipe, for example, or to close off one end. One typical fitting might be a piece of pipe which has an internal diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of the well screen. One end of the pipe may be telescoped over one end of the well screen and circumferentially welded thereto either internally or externally. Obviously, where a circumferential weld is made to the wire wrap the strength of the joint is dependent upon the strength of one wrap and its welded connection to the internal support rods. When a circumferential weld is made to one of the wraps of wire, the adjacent wrap of wire will tend to pull toward the weld as the joint cools and will thereby cause the slot opening in the screen between the first adjacent wrap and the second adjacent wrap to widen and thus render the screen less effective for its purpose. A third disadvantage of a circumferential weld is that it takes a substantial amount of time to perform the weld and thus is quite costly. The time required for the weld can be especially great when the welder is taking great care to minimize the tendency to "pull" by carefully regulating heat input and rate of welding.